The Alto Knights

"The most dangerous enemy is an old friend."

2025 2h 2m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 478

CrimeDramaHistory

Synopsis

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Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the Mafia (and America) forever.

“The most dangerous enemy is an old friend.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Robert De Niro
Vito Genovese / Frank Costello
Debra Messing
Bobbie Costello
Cosmo Jarvis
Vincent Gigante
Kathrine Narducci
Anna Genovese
Michael Rispoli
Albert Anastasia
Michael Adler
Senator Tobey
Ed Amatrudo
Rudolph Halley
Joe Bacino
Joe Profaci

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Barry Levinson
Writers: Nicholas Pileggi
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 23% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

261+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Barry Levinson, shot by Dante Spinotti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Fleming. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Douglas Crise shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robert De Niro and Debra Messing and Cosmo Jarvis carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The most dangerous enemy is an old friend.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Barry Levinson directs. Dante Spinotti behind the camera. David Fleming scores. Douglas Crise cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 23% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released last year.
3261+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Barry Levinson, shot by Dante Spinotti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by David Fleming. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Douglas Crise shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Robert De Niro and Debra Messing and Cosmo Jarvis carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The most dangerous enemy is an old friend.".
9IMDB entry: tt21815562 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 9 themes, including "new york city", "crime boss", "biography", "mafia".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dante Spinotti
Original score: David Fleming
Editing: Douglas Crise
Production design: Neil Spisak
Costume design: Jeffrey Kurland
Makeup / hair: Ruth Carsch
VFX supervisor: Greg Radcliffe
Sound: Bill R. Dean
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $45,000,000
Box office: $10,225,566
Return: 23% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Alto Knights (2025)

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Barry Levinson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-03-26
★ 6/10
After mob boss Vito (Robert De Niro with loads of facial prosthetics) gets into a scrape with the authorities, he has to flee the USA and leave his childhood friend and business partner Frank (Robert De Niro without augmentation) in charge of things. Many years go by and the latter makes a success of the post prohibition business, avoiding the narcotics industry and keeping the peace amongst the other families that control the boroughs of New York. Then Vito decides he wants to come home and resume his position at the top of the tree, but being quite a loose cannon finds that Frank and just about everyone else isn’t so keen on that proposal. True to form, Vito decides to make his presence felt and things start to become pretty precarious for Frank. That only gets more serious when the Feds and the US Senate decide to conduct a crackdown on the burgeoning drugs trade that Vito is seeing as a future way to make millions of dollars. In the end, Frank is going to have to make some tough decisions. Now, aside from the skills of the make-up artists who have managed to make one De Niro look authentic and the other like someone from a Jim Henson movie, the rest of this is a pretty poorly paced and shallow gangster movie with a great deal of chatting and virtually no action aside from the opening scene and a very messy haircut later on. His solution is, historically, quite quirky but the rest of this is procedural and I thought really rather dull as it bounces us around the timelines of their lives, loves and fairly ruthless business tactics before rushing us through who did what to whom as the story rather fizzles out. It’s all a pretty weak style over substance exercise that sees it’s lacklustre star woodenly going through the motions leading a supporting cast that adds very little to the whole thing as it lumbers along stylishly, but unremarkably. Nobody’s finest work, sorry.
r96sk2025-03-28
★ 9/10
<em>'The Alto Knights'</em> delivered for me. A (biographical) crime drama featuring Robert De Niro, what's not to love? It's a bio about Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two people I'm not all that familiar with but the story is an easy one to understand and follow so it matters not. I'm not absolutely sold on the documentary-esque scenes, though everything more traditional is excellent in my opinion. It doesn't feel like it adds anything new to the genre, much of it does feel derivative, but I'm not even hating at all because I highly enjoyed it. De Niro is as quality as one would expect in this sorta role, or roles as it is. I didn't initially know it was a dual, so I was actually quizzing myself as to if it was him playing both; I was like, it sounds like him but the make-up is good enough that I'm not convinced to be honest. Only me, I'm sure.
GenerationofSwine2025-03-30
You guys remember how bad Gotti was? Well this is what happens when someone tries to out-do De Niro in anything. He took a breath, told Travolta to hold his beer, and sat down and showed him how bad a mob movie can really be. Part of it is, well it's De Niro's politics. He isn't just outspoken politically, he's an outspoken cry-bully and that who cry baby attitude makes it pretty unbelievable when you're playing a mobster. And part of it goes a little deeper, The Good Shepard was his last decent flick and Matt Damon had to carry him through it. So now we get De Niro playing two roles that he never should have been cast in to begin with. We have a good script that no one can seem to sell. One that was probably written by the most expensive AI on the market, as testament by it's overwhelming cliches and predictable plot twists. It's amateur hour here, but, hey, at least Gotti is good by comparison.